Family of fisherman killed in dock fall gets $900,000 settlement

Eastern Fisheries, Inc. has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a fisherman who died in a January 2011 fall from a New Bedford dock that was slippery with snow and ice.

STEVE URBON

NEW BEDFORD — Eastern Fisheries, Inc. has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a fisherman who died in a January 2011 fall from a Hassey Street dock that was slippery with snow and ice.

The firm agreed to pay the family of Guiseppi Cracchiolo of Gloucester $900,000 in the case, after a 10-day trial in U.S. District Court in Boston. The settlement came during jury deliberations.

The O'Hara Corp., owner of the fishing boat Sunlight, in September 2012 settled with the family for $450,000 without going to trial.

In its defense, Eastern Fisheries contended that the accident was partly the result of an act of God and the fisherman's own negligence.

Police surveillance video showed the fisherman trying to pull himself up onto a platform to board the vessel when he slipped on the ice and fell 20 feet into the freezing harbor. Police said he had returned to the boat just after 1 a.m. after a night out socializing.

A ladder was 30 feet away, too far for him to make it in the frigid conditions. The incident happened at 1 a.m., but Cracchiolo's body was not found until 7:30 a.m.

Eastern Fisheries President Roy Enoksen was not available for comment.

Attorney Joseph M. Orlando, chief trial counsel at Orlando & Associates, a personal injury litigation firm, said in a statement, "I am so pleased that our firm was able to recover for the Cracchiolo family. No amount of money will ever substitute for the loss of a husband and father, but Carla Cracchiolo will now be able to replace the financial loss suffered and help her children deal with their personal loss."